


Impasse

by protect-him (protect_him)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, MerFenris, merfenders, mermaid au, mermanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-08
Updated: 2017-10-08
Packaged: 2019-01-15 05:58:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12315123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protect_him/pseuds/protect-him
Summary: Day 8 (Impasse). And again...more merfenders. I do not think the next will be merfenders, though. Stay tuned!





	Impasse

“No!”

Anders took a deep breath, tried to calm himself. Fenris was being absolutely unreasonable.

“Fenris, we  _ can’t _ stay here. See, Justice agrees with me.” He gestured to his companion, a brownish-gold angel shark. The shark was swimming nervously near the cave entrance.

Fenris was curled up in their nest, sitting upright with his arms folded across his chest.

“Anners need to stay,” Fenris said. “Anners’ nest!”

Anders approached Fenris again.

“I know it’s my nest, and I’ve stayed in this cave for quite a while, but there are hunters everywhere right now. It’s not safe here.”

Fenris looked desperate. He was afraid of humans—rightfully so after his experiences, but it seemed he was more afraid of change.

Anders extended a hand to Fenris.

“Fenris, we’ve talked about this. I know we disagree on this, but please, trust me. We aren’t safe here anymore. We have to go.”

“I can’t go,” Fenris insisted. “No wanna!”

Anders sighed.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he said, “but I won’t stay.” His hand remained outstretched. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“No!”

Anders frowned.

“Fine, you’ll regret it,” he snapped. “Don’t expect me to help you again when you find yourself some man’s  _ pet _ again.”

He ignored the look of hurt and desperation on Fenris’s face as he turned and sped from the cave.

“Let’s go, Justice,” he said, clutching the cloth bag of his few belongings to his chest. After one last glance towards Fenris, the shark turned to follow Anders.

Fenris watched, hands clenched into fists, as Anders swam away, the pretty flashing of his tail fin fading as he disappeared into the distance.

Fenris felt a strong urge to follow him, to cling to him as he had at first after being rescued, but another part of him was defiant.

He had seen only a few hunting ships, and those could not get into their underwater cave. Anders had to be wrong.

Fenris loved Anders—love was a new concept, but Fenris was sure of his affection—yet Anders had simply left him there alone. Fenris had been alone before. Never quite so alone...Danarius had always been nearby, but Fenris could handle himself now. He did not need to be protected.

Fenris missed Anders intensely. The nest was too roomy alone. He was bored alone. He hunted, slowly and cautiously, taking his time in catching his favorite types of fish, because Fenris was picky. Sometimes he swam near the pool where Anders had saved him, other times he swam up the river where Anders showed him the delights of catching and eating freshwater fish. Occasionally, he swam to where the water got very dark. This last was the most frightening for Fenris, yet he was determined to do it.

He practiced swimming down into the dark. Despite the fact that he could see surprisingly well in the dark, Fenris was always eager to return to shallow water again.

Fenris each night returned to their nest, disappointed that Anders had not returned while he was away. He found himself sleeping more and eating less. There was no fun in hunting. No fun in sleeping either, but at least he wasn’t thinking about it.

His first warning of the hunters was the hum of a boat above the cave, loud enough to be heard even through the stone walls. Even at this alarming noise, Fenris was lethargic in waking up. The sound of a boat was not unusual, but what pulled Fenris from his sleep was the splash of the first diver hitting the water. The sound was distant and gentle, but unmistakable to his attuned hearing.

Fenris swam to the cave entrance and looked around.

Sure enough, there above him was a boat. A large boat, with a person in the water, treading water. As he watched, four more people appeared. Then without warning, one dove under the water. Fenris ducked back into the cave, now fully terrified. He swam around its perimeter frantically. There were several small tunnels leading off from the large main area of the cave, but all of them either ended quickly or circled back around. He could hear the noisy movements of the divers coming closer. The cave had not escaped the notice of hunters, and had finally been targeted for scrutiny.

With nowhere else to hide, Fenris swam to the bottom of the cave and burrowed himself into the thick and slimy seaweed that grew there. He clung to the plants, shivering with fear, as the divers entered their cave. Looking up, he could just barely see them through the seaweed.

They examined Anders’ nest and all of the crevices around the cave. One swam down and seemed to scan the seaweed, but when they picked at it, they seemed to find the plant unpleasant and soon gave up.

The divers spent a lot of time in the cave, though they came and went, taking turns, and took photos. There were a lot of small items that Fenris had collected. Anders had taken some of his trinkets, including the heart shell that Fenris had given him, but left others. And Fenris had been collecting pretty objects he had found in the meantime as well.

As the day drew to a close, the divers took all of Fenris’s collected items, bringing them back up to their boat. The last thing they did before leaving was tear up Anders’ nest and scatter the pieces on the floor of the cave. Fenris cowered in the seaweed, afraid even to cry.

He barely moved in the next few days. A few times he ventured out to catch fish, the first ones he could find—and then he would return to his hiding spot.

The divers returned a few days later to examine the cave. Satisfied that no mer was currently living there, as they saw no signs of a new nest, they seemed to give up on watching the cave.

Still, Fenris hid. His body shed weight as his eating suffered even more than it already had been in Anders’ absence. He was so nervous that even normal sounds had him shivering in fright.

A couple weeks after the divers had last visited the cave, Fenris heard something approaching, swimming fast.

He cowered against the ground in his seaweed nest, watching fearfully.

The first thing he saw was a pair of hands grabbing the lip of the cave entrance, then a golden head thrust inside, looking around curiously. The familiar profile and coloring had Fenris blinking in surprise.

“He’s gone, Justice,” Anders said, his voice breaking. “We’re too late.”

“Anners?” Fenris stirred in the seaweed, trying to wriggle free.

Anders looked down in surprise at the seaweed on the cave floor.

“Fenris?”

Fenris finally broke free of the seaweed. He didn’t swim towards Anders, but remained nervously clasping his hands together.

“Fenris, you’re still here!” Anders swam happily towards him, bowling Fenris over backwards in his enthusiasm. He wrapped Fenris in a tight hug.

“Anners safe,” Fenris said quietly, relieved that Anders too had escaped capture.

“Fenris, you’re so thin. How long have you been hiding down there?”

“Mans came after Anners go. Five mans.” Fenris held up a hand to illustrate how many. “Fenners hide. Week and week.”

“Two weeks?” Anders asked, concerned.

Fenris nodded. “Two week.”

Anders grabbed him in another hug.

“I’m sorry I left you,” he said, “I just...there’s no way I wouldn’t have been caught as well. A mer with coloring like mine can’t hide in the seaweed like you. Next time...please come with me.”

Fenris nodded.

“Fenners sawy.”

Anders nuzzled against his neck. “Don’t be sorry. You didn’t know.”

“Fenners go wif Anners.”

“Yes, next time I won’t leave without you. I was so scared I’d lost you.”

“Fenners love.”

Anders looked at him curiously.

“Love?”

“Love Anners.”

“Oh, Fenris.” Anders hugged him even tighter, hiding tears in Fenris’s shoulder. “Anders loves you too.”


End file.
